On May 7^th, 2013 my colleague and I had the opportunity to attend a seminar put on by The News-Press Media Group, A Gannet Company. The seminar was The Digital Roadmap: Solutions for Online Success. We had the pleasure of learning from Gannet’s Engagement Team and were pleasantly surprised with the depth of knowledge and insight they offered to the attendees. The Digital Roadmap provided by the engagement team detailed the evolution of marketing, defining digital and social media marketing, effective social strategies. This seminar was so content rich that I will be doing a few different posts about this particular seminar, so read on, and stay tuned!

To begin, let’s go over the evolution of marketing. One could say life used to be so simple for marketers back in the 1990s, when we simply had to target a few different channels – direct mail, telephone, television, print, and display. Today- the channels on which marketers can reach consumers on are endless, making a marketers job that much harder. But not to fret – one thing has stayed consistent, and that is the most effective marketing channel, can you guess it? If you blurted out ‘word of mouth,’ give yourself a pat on the back, or consider a virtual high five from myself congratulations for you savvy marketer, you! 😉  What is the downfall with word of mouth marketing? It is very difficult to track, quantify, and control.

So why is the evolution of marketing relevant for you to know? In today’s society, multiple social media platforms allow for consumers to immediately share their reviews (with the WORLD,) become mayors (hello, FourSquare), share photos of your product, and so much more! Back in the good old days of Rugrats and MTV actually playing music videos (AKA: the 90’s), the marketing process was much more simple. Marketers would target the audience, engage the audience, convert this engagement to sales, and ultimately, gain consumer loyalty.

Now that we have detailed how marketing used to be, let me clue you in on how it works in the present day. Consumers are gathering information in a whole different way, and how consumers actually make the decision to buy is now referred to by Google as “The Zero Moment of Truth.” The ZMOT, as defined by Google is basically the very moment of decision that happens before consumers make the commitment to buy a product; it is the first impression of the product and possibly the FINAL decision. I highly suggest you click here to learn more about the ZMOT study Google has conducted – after all it was published by Google – what is not to love? So, here is the lowdown on modern day marketing: what used to be a marketing message sent by businesses is now a conversation, word of mouth is stronger than ever, and mobile devices are stronger than ever, given they are MOT (moment of truth) machines!

Are you following now?  Yet another aspect to pay attention to is the process leading up to the consumer’s ZMOT. Nowadays, you are not just convincing your audience to buy your product, but also to buy it with YOU. Why should they buy this product from you when they can buy it from X, Y, & Z Brand? This is where the importance of your online brand presence comes in. Consumers do their homework, AKA they are gaining information from an average of about 10 different sources before deciding to buy a product. This staggering statistic comes from Google ZMOT Handbook, 2012.

To wrap up, the important thing to understand is that consumers are now on a journey when buying products/services, etc. before they reach their zero moment of truth. This journey begins by the consumer being stimulated to begin the journey; they then embark upon searching for the product. Once the consumer finds the product, they dive deep into research. This research leads them to reading reviews, watching videos, etc. Next, they turn to their trusted network to gain the advice of their peers. Then FINALLY, the consumer reaches the shelf, check out, restaurant, what have you, and the ZMOT is made.

There are many more stops, twists, and turns in this digital road map, so be sure to tune back in for coverage on the next segment of the seminar: Defining Search.

Best,

Alysia